Professor Rebecca Jones

Professional biography

I am Professor of Sociology, Sexuality and Ageing; my research and teaching interests centre on sociological approaches to later life, sexuality and especially sexuality in later life, often using creative methods. I specialise in producing high-quality distance learning materials, especially on challenging topics around sexuality, and in developing the skills of others in creating distance learning resources. I am a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

I keep a blog called 'Remembering My Hat', on which I reflect on my practice as an educator and a researcher, and you can find me on Bluesky, where I am @remembermyhat.

Research interests

My research interests centre on ageing, sexuality, and sexuality in later life - there is a short video overviewing some of my research around ageing here. I deploy critical sociological theories and creative methods to challenge neo-liberal visions of successful ageing and rethink later life sexuality. I specialise in LGBTQ issues in later life, particularly ageing and bisexuality: I led the team that published the first empirical work focusing specifically on older bisexual people and used this empirical basis to advance key theoretical questions in sexualities research more widely. 

My PhD (completed in 2003) used Critical Discursive Psychology and Conversation Analysis to interrogate older women’s talk about sex and ageing. Since then, I have used a variety of broadly creative, narrative and discursive approaches to investigate a range of topics including: age discrimination, how people imagine their own ageing and later life, normative and non-normative life courses, the ageing of LGBTQ+ people, LGBTQ+ issues in health and social care, and especially ageing and bisexuality. In recent years, I have been involved in a number of global development projects around reproductive and sexual health and rights, leading the development of learning resources to support the provision of better services for the most marginalised groups. 

Between 2005 and 2015, I chaired the Centre for Ageing and Biographical Studies (CABS) at The Open University (OU), an active research group drawing together academics and postgraduates working on topics related to ageing. CABS has a long-running seminar and book series with the Centre for Policy on Ageing, focusing on methodological issues in ageing research, which I oversaw in my role as Chair.  

I am a long-time member of the British Society of Gerontology, the national professional organisation for gerontologists. I am a Founder Member of BiUK and one of the authors of The Bisexuality Report.

I am an experienced supervisor of PhD students, currently supervising Elizabeth Ascroft's study of co-creating Comprehensive Sexuality Education resources. I would welcome applications from potential PhD students in any area related to my research interests. Please note that we do usually require candidates to have already had some Research Methods training at Masters level before they commence a doctorate.

Teaching interests

Since 2004, I have designed and created content for nine modues within the degree in Health and Social Care, and helped to present three. I have also authored and led the design of five courses on Open Learn and Open Learn Create, mostly for use by international development practitioners working on reproductive and sexual health and rights. I have particular expertise in the production (or course-writing) phase of creating distance teaching materials. I focus particularly on the pedagogical structure which underlies the explicit content and how this can best enable student learning. I run regular courses across the university on these topics, to support our Curriculum Design work. Some of the resources I have created to support this work can be found on my 'Remembering My Hat' blog under the tag 'course-writing resources'.

In 2019-21 I worked on a Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office funded consortium project led by the International Planned Parenthood Federation, which aimed to improve reproductive and sexual health services to the most marginalised and underserved populations in the world. I led the design and production of learning resources. 

From 2015-2019 I was Qualifications Lead for the Health and Social Care discipline area, responsible for the quality assurance and day-to-day academic management of four degrees, including the BA(Hons) in Health and Social Care, and their nested qualifications. In 2020 I was awarded a commendation in the university's Recognition of Excellence in Teaching scheme for my work reshaping this degree to develop student potential. In 2022 I led the writing of the Self Evaulation Dcoument for the six-yearly Periodic Qualifications Review for the Health and Social Care Programme area.

International links

I am currently working with Spice FM and Reproductive Health Uganda on a project to explore trusted sources of information about reproductive and sexual health issues among young refugees with little formal education who live in Kyangwali Refugee Settlement.